Hi Everyone....

 

    It is that time of the year again when Miss. B and Room 1 are on holiday. We will return with more adventures January 16th. Meanwhile, I wish everyone much love and happiness for the holidays. Don't forget to wear your red undies for the new year!

 

 

                     This morning I happened to see a student from another classroom that had visited us earlier in the year when he was being a behavior problem in his own classroom. He was sent to me as a "punishment" but loved hanging out with us so much that it turned into a reward so his teacher couldn't threaten him with me anymore. Miguel loves to seek out my kids and plays with them at recess even now. They say water finds its own level and I think Miguel could actually be one of mine if he were slightly less higher functioning. Anyway, I said hello to him and he smiled. He wandered off and I thought nothing of it after that. Apparently when I went out to get some of my students off the bus, he came back into my classroom and left a holiday pin shaped like a Christmas wreath on my back table. I asked my aides if it belonged to them when I discovered it later and they had told me about Miguel leaving it. I thought perhaps I better ask his teacher about it because it might have belonged to her. I saw Miguel's teacher at recess and asked her if she was missing a pin. She told me that Miguel had brought it for me. I could have cried right on the spot. That meant more to me than anything anyone could have given me. I sought him out and gave him a big hug. He acted like he didn't know what I was talking about but I just smiled. My cat returning was Christmas Miracle #1 and this was Christmas Miracle #2.

                 My class and  another Special Ed class went today and sang some Christmas songs at a convalescent home near where our school is at. I tried my very best to prepare my students for who and what they may see. None of my students have ever had that experience before. All of the patients there are non-ambulatory. Those that were able, they were waiting for us in their great room they have there in their wheelchairs. My students and I walked in and immediately my entire class looked like deers caught in the headlights. I found it really interesting. There the patients were, some rocking, some making nosies, some staring off into space, and it was like looking at my class very aged. I don't think my kids caught on to the fact that's what they look like on some days. Anyway, my students were barely able to make it through the first song. They were just so busy staring. My aides and I were with them belting out the songs as loud as we could to make up my class not singing. Then we broke them up to go say hello to every single person in the room. You could tell just having the kids there made some of them so happy. I spoke to one woman who looked just like my favorite grandmother who had passed away almost two years ago. She was so dear. She handed me a little paper ornament that she had made. It was some simple shapes with a few christmas stickers on them hanging from a pipe cleaner. I asked her if I could have it and she nodded. I told her I would go back to my classroom and hang it on my tree. (It's there right now) It was just so moving for me and I have really been missing my grandmother all day. My students eventually warmed up and were very sweet to everyone.

     I am always amazed by the gift of human touch. For some of the patients, they just wanted to shake the hands of my students. Once there was that hand-to-hand contact, you could see the face of the person just brighten. I started to wonder how many of them never had family or friends visit. We started off doing this to bring everyone at the convalescent home some Christmas cheer. Instead I think we were all the ones who were blessed in the end.

 

 

                   I have to thank one of my readers for the suggestion she sent to me about tattling. I had an old cordless phone with the charger left over from my last school site. I brought it out and put it on the back table next to the Christmas tree we have up. I put a sign by it that read" Tattle Hotline 555-1212". I told the kids that our Prinicipal and I have been talking about all the tattling going on and he had this phone brought in so that people could call to leave messages in the office about other students making bad choices. I explained the only time they didn't need to use the phone was if someone was bleeding or dying. Then they could tell me. My aides and I secretly took bets about which kid would use the phone first to make a complaint. So far, nobody has used the phone yet but the tattling was cut way down yesterday after the phone appeared. I'm thinking of actually getting a separate phone line through my broadband phone company so the kids can actually call the number and leave a real message at my house.

 

 

 

Authors Note*- Ricky has already called twice today to complain about his classmates. The frightening thing is that all the kids remember this phone number but can't remember their home phones!

 

 

          I managed to maintain my happy mood in the face of an all out effort from my students to set the record for how many times they could tattle on each other in a classroom day. This year's group are the all time champions. I usually lose count after 20 times. I can't figure out why they haven't obtained the ability to solve their own problems yet. We've been working really hard to give them those tools. In years past ,I've had classes which could work out their problems without much intervention. I'm chalking it up to the fact that I have 10 boys and 1 girl in my class. My girl rarely tattles. She is however the rule enforcer and will promptly let me and everyone else know who is making bad choices. My boys are a mess. I blame it on all that testosterone or that faulty Y chromosome which leaves them virtually incapable of solving something for themselves without the help of a woman. :)  I have now instituted the two question test when it comes to tattling. First, the students must answer, "Is someone dying"? Then they must answer, "Is someone bleeding"? If the answer is no then my answer to them is, "Then I do not want to hear this". That pretty much stops them dead in their tracks now. I had to make up this litmus test in order to save my own sanity.